A Live Mail account comes in handy!

More and more it seems that the BTYahoo logon page is locking me out by saying that my password/email address is invalid. I know it's not, but interestingly Live Mail will get me in. After a while the web site decides that I'm OK and lets me log on. I would recommend anyone who often has trouble with webmail access to set up a Live account (or similar) as an emergency backup, as this seems to bypass the gremlins every time. Anyone know why this happens? Presumably different pathways to the Yahoo servers?

Are you referring to Windows Live mail? So you're saying use a mail client to access the mail via POP3 instead of BT webmail?

Not really. I'm saying have one ready and set up as a reserve, as access is fine even when the webmail site throws a wobbly. I seem to get locked out about once a month for short periods (like yesterday) when it won't accept my details. Actually, I quite like the Windows Live Mail interface as it's less fiddly than the BTYahoo webpage. I know that most people use Outlook etc. instead of the website though, although I suspect that many older users especially just stick with what BT sets up for them.

In reply to a post by GeoffB:

I suspect that many older users especially just stick with what BT sets up for them.

As an "older-user" I would always prefer to use a proper Email Client, rather than Web-Mail.

The only time I would want to use Web-Mail is when I'm away from my PC. Under these circumstances, I simply want to access my Mail & NOT have to try to delve through all of the Yahoo junk to get to it! Hence, I'm not impressed with BT's offerings on this!

I'm in my sixties, so I wasn't being rude! I've tried to zap all the advertising on the webmail page, but it's very persistent!

I'm not quite sure why anyone uses BT mail (or any other ISP mail offering) other than for details required by the ISP. They don't seem to offer any advantage over the free ones such as gmail, and make it much more difficult to change ISP when you wish.

Obviously different setup suit different people. I use gmail as my main provider; and have done through three or four ISPs (one of whom, BE, didn't even offer me email). I forward any mail from my BT email to gmail.

I used to use Thunderbird/IMAP almost exclusively. I now mostly use gmail web client because it has much better search than Thunderbird. I still use Thunderbird to ensure I have offline backup in case of issues with broadband or gmail service. Also for quick viewing of bulk mail such as spam; it is much faster to eyeball and delete say 200 messages on Thunderbird than on web client.

Did you know that using Gmail, hotmail or any other mail like this causes a higher score in fraud engines used by online retailers? Same goes if you only have a mobile number rather than a land line.

To clarify, I think you are saying that you use your Windows Live Mail (WLM) client on your PC to access your BTYahoo email a/c whenever you have trouble logging into this email a/c using Webmail.

There is no connection between logging using POP3 or IMAP that WLM uses and logging in online on the Web, particularly as with WLM you have the advantage that your login credentials are stored so you don't need to type them every time.

Why only use WLM "in reserve as emergency" anyway? It is a far cleaner, faster and more reliable method for accessing your email a/c's than webmail.

Even ancient users will prefer email clients like WLM in preference to webmail, particularly as the webmail access is relatively recent; in the beginning there were only email clients .

I read somewhere that you should disable the option to store your password in POP3 mail programs (for obvious reasons). I agree with what you say, but I usually change my password/security details about once a month and use the web page for that.

In reply to a post by GeoffB:

you should disable the option to store your password in POP3 mail programs (for obvious reasons).

Which are? Someone can nick your PC and hack your Windows User login? Your mail client's passwords are not displayed in clear, just blobs.